1978 Alpine Renault A310

The Alpine A310 was introduced to the public at the 1971 Geneva Auto Show and was meant as a replacement for the A110, though it stayed in production until 1977. The production version of the A310 began in 1972 utilizing the same basic design and chassis as the A110 Berlinette. It borrowed some components from other vehicles such as the rack and pinion steering, five-speed gearbox, and ventilated disc brakes which came from the Renault R12 Gordini. The five-speed gearbox was later replaced with a four-speed Renault R30 unit since it was unable to cope with the engine. The 1978 A310 was powered by a 2.7-liter V6 engine built by Renault in conjunction with Peugeot and Volvo. The 148 horsepower was named RPV, which represented its builders.

The top speed was over 140 mph with zero-to-sixty taking just under seven seconds.

by Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2007